Taemin said the song and video concept came from a 1957 book he had read that inspired him, 'L 'Erotisme by French philosopher George Bataille. George Bataille expressed his desire instrest to explore complex emotions.
I’ve literally written pages of analysis about this MV and its surrounding media. Basically I can condense it down to three theories: He experienced a traumatic military service and had to be transferred to the public service sector due to mental health reasons. It could be speaking to that. It could also speak to being taken advantage of by the music industry as a child, especially. And as a queer person who kind of finds queerness in everything, I felt gay conversion camp vibes from the time I saw the first trailer. It could be one of these, two of them, or perhaps a melding of all three in various ways. There have been some sort of pat “press release” type responses about it being just about an unhealthy type of love. But I think that the MV hints at so much more than that. There's also the book Erotism by Georges Bataille that the director recommend he read in preparation for this comeback. It’s about the intersections of sexuality, religion, death, the sacred and the profane and taboo. (Which has ironically basically been his brand from the beginning, more or less.) There’s also the quote by Herman Hesse that he's mentioned in interviews even before enlistment from the book Demian. "The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas." People think that the feather crown is a nod to Abraxys, which is supposed to be a heretic god, both God and Satan, without a binary. There’s an underlying element of child abuse. Taemin became a trainee at the age of 12, and had been called beautiful and treated in extremely inappropriate ways even on variety shows. He was in sexualized photo shoots as a minor. I think an aspect of this MV is the catharsis and breaking free from that trauma, along with the general emotional damage of being a child star. Someone made a really good video analysis from the point of someone who knows the nuances of the Korean languages and they said that the lyrics are quite poorly translated. I always felt a mismatch between the lyrics and the MV and this really highlighted why I felt that way. ruclips.net/video/KE04kB6pAnQ/видео.htmlsi=eMwsterv2fxxH6g2 So yeah, so much thought went into making this MV and only Taemin and maybe his team know how deep it goes. I love him so much!
Wow a lot of information, thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed comment! I'm currently learning Korean, so I know very much that Korean nuances don't often translate 1:1 with other languages, such as English. I'm not fluent yet so I can't just rely on listening alone (yet. One day maybe!). I think it's very telling the child version of Taemin in the music intersecting with the theory of his childhood treatment by the industry! Though I will be honest, in terms of Shinee as a group, I am still very new to THAT younger Taemin, so I never saw those sexualised shoots (and frankly, given his age back then, I don't think I would want to!) I really hope that the MV was a cathartic experience for him! Ooh that Herman Hesse reference is really interesting. I didn't know about that. Again thank you for all these new insights! I also didn't know about his military enlistment, and the experience had. I feel bad for him, regarding his mental health 😔
@@kennethiain the references to Bataille (erotism connected with pain) and from previous Taemin releases suggest that he also portrays his complicity with the industry and sexualization, and issues related to being objectivized but also pleasure in receiving the attention (Voyeurism & Exhibitionism) and BDSM.
there is a mismatch, regardless, I think Taemin needs a lyricist that understands better these issues. Or may be that they want to make the dark concepts more commercial. Also, with regard to the queer concept the two persons in the beginning of the video are two girls (not a boy and a girl). There is a third character that plays taemin's double (the one he chokes) he is also the one with the white tennis in the trailer.
@@kennethiain yes most people thought that, she still may me be him, there must be a reason why they look so gender neutral (he often defines his concepts as gender neutral). Still she is wearing a skirt in another scene.
Aw thank you! I don't know how much Taemin will be on the channel (I've heard quite a few of his songs now) -- I know I'd like to react to his Killing Voice performance at some point -- but thank you, thank you!
TAEMIN
q lindas vibes das, tqm
Taemin said the song and video concept came from a 1957 book he had read that inspired him, 'L 'Erotisme by French philosopher George Bataille. George Bataille expressed his desire instrest to explore complex emotions.
Oooh okay! Thank you for this insight! I didn't know. I will have to look into this philosopher!
GRACIAS. Por reaccionar a TAEMIN .FANTÁSTICO SUPREMACIA DEL KPOP .GUILTY ARTE .En toda la extensión de la palabra. ❤
Thank you for watching! He is amazing!
I’ve literally written pages of analysis about this MV and its surrounding media.
Basically I can condense it down to three theories: He experienced a traumatic military service and had to be transferred to the public service sector due to mental health reasons. It could be speaking to that. It could also speak to being taken advantage of by the music industry as a child, especially. And as a queer person who kind of finds queerness in everything, I felt gay conversion camp vibes from the time I saw the first trailer. It could be one of these, two of them, or perhaps a melding of all three in various ways. There have been some sort of pat “press release” type responses about it being just about an unhealthy type of love. But I think that the MV hints at so much more than that.
There's also the book Erotism by Georges Bataille that the director recommend he read in preparation for this comeback. It’s about the intersections of sexuality, religion, death, the sacred and the profane and taboo. (Which has ironically basically been his brand from the beginning, more or less.)
There’s also the quote by Herman Hesse that he's mentioned in interviews even before enlistment from the book Demian. "The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas." People think that the feather crown is a nod to Abraxys, which is supposed to be a heretic god, both God and Satan, without a binary.
There’s an underlying element of child abuse. Taemin became a trainee at the age of 12, and had been called beautiful and treated in extremely inappropriate ways even on variety shows. He was in sexualized photo shoots as a minor. I think an aspect of this MV is the catharsis and breaking free from that trauma, along with the general emotional damage of being a child star.
Someone made a really good video analysis from the point of someone who knows the nuances of the Korean languages and they said that the lyrics are quite poorly translated. I always felt a mismatch between the lyrics and the MV and this really highlighted why I felt that way. ruclips.net/video/KE04kB6pAnQ/видео.htmlsi=eMwsterv2fxxH6g2
So yeah, so much thought went into making this MV and only Taemin and maybe his team know how deep it goes. I love him so much!
Wow a lot of information, thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed comment! I'm currently learning Korean, so I know very much that Korean nuances don't often translate 1:1 with other languages, such as English. I'm not fluent yet so I can't just rely on listening alone (yet. One day maybe!). I think it's very telling the child version of Taemin in the music intersecting with the theory of his childhood treatment by the industry! Though I will be honest, in terms of Shinee as a group, I am still very new to THAT younger Taemin, so I never saw those sexualised shoots (and frankly, given his age back then, I don't think I would want to!) I really hope that the MV was a cathartic experience for him!
Ooh that Herman Hesse reference is really interesting. I didn't know about that. Again thank you for all these new insights!
I also didn't know about his military enlistment, and the experience had. I feel bad for him, regarding his mental health 😔
@@kennethiain the references to Bataille (erotism connected with pain) and from previous Taemin releases suggest that he also portrays his complicity with the industry and sexualization, and issues related to being objectivized but also pleasure in receiving the attention (Voyeurism & Exhibitionism) and BDSM.
there is a mismatch, regardless, I think Taemin needs a lyricist that understands better these issues. Or may be that they want to make the dark concepts more commercial. Also, with regard to the queer concept the two persons in the beginning of the video are two girls (not a boy and a girl). There is a third character that plays taemin's double (the one he chokes) he is also the one with the white tennis in the trailer.
Oh really? I thought it was a representation of a young Taemin. That's amazing representation though!
@@kennethiain yes most people thought that, she still may me be him, there must be a reason why they look so gender neutral (he often defines his concepts as gender neutral). Still she is wearing a skirt in another scene.
Subbed, liked and hit that bell for the God of kpop taemin!!!!!
Aw thank you! I don't know how much Taemin will be on the channel (I've heard quite a few of his songs now) -- I know I'd like to react to his Killing Voice performance at some point -- but thank you, thank you!
Yess..Taemin the King ❤❤❤❤
He's amazing!!